TĀNE RORE
Basement Theatre Foyer, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
17/06/2025 - 21/06/2025
Production Details
Director: Jason Te Mete
Produced and Presented by Tuatara Collective
TĀNE RORE is a devised, bilingual theatre extravaganza that features singing, dance, haka and authentic storytelling through text (monologue and poetry) featuring BIPOC male-identifying performers. Scattered with songs, dance (contemporary, hip-hop, Pasifika) and haka elements, Basement audiences are in for a powerful and moving experience celebrating the Māori atua (deity) of performing arts.
This is the ‘brother-show’ of HINE-TE-RĒHIA presented in 2022, and at BATS Wellington last year.
Please note that the 20th June performance starts at 6.30pm.
HAU Festival 2025
The Basement, Auckland
17, 18, 19 & 21 June 2025, 8pm
Fri 20 June, 6.30pm
Price$17-$30
BOOK: https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2025/jun/hau-tane-rore
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TĀNE RORE is part of the HAU FESTIVAL [te Hī me te Hā] 2025, a two-week festival produced by Tuatara Collective made up of new original indigenous and LGBTQiA2+ stories told authentically. With generous support from the Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme Festival Fund and the Basement Theatre, the festival features 5 events that celebrate the movement of the atmosphere, the winds of change and the shifting vibrations of energy and light.
Other shows include SURVIVE – 3 x 45 minute solos by Queer artists, and GARAGE PARTY (ft. Daughters of Ally, Liana Frangipani, DJ Ayesha and Bonnie Hurunui from White Chapel Jak) to sing in Matariki, the Māori New Year.
This is the second festival, the inaugural HAU [te Hī me te Hā] in 2022 presented the highly-acclaimed shows HINE-TE-RĒHIA and KA’A by Pati that received rave reviews.
ABOUT THE PRODUCER – TUATARA COLLECTIVE
Tuatara Collective is a charitable trust that provides space for Aotearoa artists to create and share stories with an authentic lens that celebrate Māori, Pasifika and LGBTQiA2+ communities. All projects are created to provide community and facilitate kōrero. Tuatara Collective has developed the Rātā initiative, an innovative arts practice supporting mental health in the arts industry (for artists and audiences). Professional mental health support is provided to all artists involved, and present at each show for the audience to engage with post-show. This is a core value of Tuatara Collective, and informs their kaupapa and mahi.
“Once artists and audiences alike have support within the spaces where they experience art, the quality of work will be elevated, improving community and audience engagement and participation.” – Jason Te Mete, Tuatara Collective
Te Mete says the intention for the HAU Festival was always to pay it forward – giving these artists a platform to present something new, original and meaningful. They feel hugely thankful to be able to support young artists at Basement Theatre and to help build and shape their ideas into kick-ass works of art that are not only entertaining, but pack a punch with political, cultural and social relevance too.
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HAU
(noun) Vital essence, vitality of a person, place or object.
(verb) To be heard, resound, famous.
(verb) To exceed.
(noun) Wind, breeze, breath.
Cast
Poroaki Merritt-McDonald
Luke Orbell
Tohu Edwards
Nātana Mika
and
George Henare
Mātanga Mātauranga MāoriTūī
Matira Ranapiri Ransfield
Maori contemporary dance , Pasifika contemporary dance , Māori Theatre , Poetry , Theatre , Kapa Haka theatre , Music ,
60 MINS
A Celebration of Māori Masculinity and Legacy
Review by Aroha Awarau 20th Jun 2025
Watching one of our great Indigenous actors, George Henare, recite poems by renowned Māori writers and dance to the classic tune ‘He Putiputi Pai’in the new stage show TĀNE RORE, you quickly realise this is a truly magical theatre experience – one that may not come around again.
At 79, Henare – who has built a legendary career with unforgettable performances on stage and screen, from Shakespeareto Once Were Warriors – leads a play at Auckland’s The Basement Theatre that delves into the complexities of being Māori and male. From confronting criticisms of having “scribbles on one’s face” to grieving the loss of a brother, this show explores identity through haka, contemporary dance, poem recitals, poignant monologues, and humorous skits.
What makes TĀNE RORE particularly powerful is that Henare is not just the star – he is the tuakana (elder), guiding the next generation of Māori performers. Sharing the stage with talented under-25-year old actors Poroaki Merritt-McDonald, Luke Orbell, Tohu Edwards, and 11-year-old Nātana Mika (a star in the making, with a leading role in the feature film Ka Whawhai Tonu), we witness a beautiful moment of intergenerational artistry. Seeing young Nātana, and the rest of the young cast, hold their own alongside an acting giant like Henare is truly moving.
The show embraces all facets of what it means to be Māori and male – from traditional masculinity to takatāpui (queer identity), from deep emotional truths to lighthearted anecdotes, like Nātana’s hilarious story about being attacked by “ugly-as seagulls.” Director Jason Te Mete captures these stories with authenticity and heart, weaving in tributes to well-known Māori men who have made significant contributions to Aotearoa – icons like Hone Tuwhare, Sir Howard Morrison, Cliff Curtis, and even musician Teeks and artist Mr G.
Te Mete shatters stereotypes, portraying Māori men as multifaceted and deeply complex – far beyond the face tattoos or the ‘Jake the Muss’ caricatures often seen in film, TV and mainstream media. Māori men are fathers, brothers, husbands. Māori men are loving. Māori men can be gay. Māori men are masculine. Māori men are strong. These positive messages resonate far beyond our culture – they are universal.
TĀNE RORE is part of the HAU Festival, an event produced by Te Mete’s company, Tuatara Collective, showcasing captivating Indigenous and LGBTQIA2+ stories. Te Mete says he started the festival to pay it forward, giving Māori storytellers a platform to create something new, original and meaningful. With TĀNE RORE, he has undoubtedly achieved that.
TĀNE RORE is on now until 21 June at The Basement Theatre in Auckland. HAU Festival concludes at The Basement on 28 June.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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